CELEBRATE THE COLORS

One of the six radio plays is based off an acapella tune of mine by the same name. Each radio play is followed by the song it came from.

Performing ‘Celebrate the Colors’ solo I accompanied myself on djembe. The audience and I did a call and response. On the recording Jesse Williams plays a cool bass part with Fabio Pirozzolo adding his classic percussion expertise. But the biggest thrill for me was to sing it with three other wonderful women – Renese King, Heather Williams and Barbara Kessler. Renese & Heather are able to join my for on June 10th for the concert.

I wrote this song from my frustration with terminology. We call ourselves black and white but we’re not. And in my researching for writing the radio play I learned some science behind skin color: there’s no evidence linking any skin color to intelligence or ability; we had dark skin for well over their first 100,000 years of human existence to protect them from the African sun; and the one I love the most – light “white” skin comes from MUTATION!

As humans moved north lighter was more beneficial as it would soak up the sun’s rays – hence Vitamin D – more efficiently. Considering the trouble our nation’s psyche has handling the beautiful diversity of all us humans, I love the irony that “white” people are mutants!

Getting back to the language thing, though – ‘Celebrate the Colors’ explores new skin color terminology if our practice was to describe each other’s skin colors in their true colors. Here’s a clip of my try at it with Renese, Heather and Barbara on vocals: